2010-08-24: Moving In and Moving Up
Summary: Nomad moves into her new home, and gets a job offer from Janet Van Dyne. Location: Steve Rogers' Brooklyn apartment. Characters: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and Nomad (Rikki Barnes) Rating: G/PG Note: Takes place shortly after 2010-08-23: When Steve Met Janet Steve Rogers opens up the door of his apartment, laden with several bags and parcels, looking to be from various high-end men's clothing stores. Despite the awkward load, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty balancing it. Of course, more notable is that he's actually preceded through the door by a rather lovely woman who may or may not be a recognizable face. That of Janet Van Dyne. "Well, there's not a whole lot to it just yet, but it's home." Steve comments to his guest, setting down some of the packages and gesturing to the rather spacious apartment. Three bedrooms and a generous living area with a halfway-decent view. Not surprisingly, there isn't much decoration or personal items, and "the basics" as furniture goes. Some freeweights and exercise mats are stored over in one corner, and perhaps oddly, there's a drawing table with some sketches in the opposite corner. There's not even a TV yet. "It has potential." Janet is, of course, not carrying a single bag. For one thing, all her purchases are in her BMW. For another, she has people to carry things for her. "It screams man though, doesn't it? You could use some personal touches. Maybe we can get some of the posters they made of you during the war. The recruiting and war bond posters..." Of course, there's one piece of furnishing in the apartment that Steve probably isn't expecting. "Hey Steve, started moving my stuff in, hope that's okay..." a voice comes from one of the additional bedrooms. Rikki Barnes, Cap's new roommate/responsibility, comes out, grinning widely. "Got most of my stuff unpacked, though that doesn't say much as I was..." She blinks a few times, eyes Janet a bit. "Oh...hi. Didn't know anyone else was here." She offers a small smile and fidgets, clearly not sure if she should hole up in her room or not. "I hope you'll forgive me if I don't want too many pictures of myself up on the wall...at least not of me by myself." He adds, "Patriotic decor, however, is completely all right. And if you know someplace where I can find the original movie poster for "Yankee Doodle Dandy" I'll be eternally grateful. A reproduction is fine, of course." Steve notes to Janet, setting down the rest of his packages and looking surprised at Rikki's arrival, albeit pleasantly so. "Great. I'm glad you're getting settled in." He gestures between the two women, "Janet Van Dyne, this is Rikki Barnes, my ward." An old-fashioned notion, but Steve explains (well, sort of), "It's a bit of a complicated story, though if Rikki feels like telling it it's up to her. Suffice to say she's the closest person to family I have in the here and now, so I figured I'd best make it as official as I could." "Hello, Rikki Barnes." Janet says, offering her hand to the young woman, "That's a very interesting last name. Especially considering Steve's history." Yes, Janet read the League dossier on Steve while she was on the plane from Milan. It was quite interesting. Rikki nods her head a bit, smiling at Janet after a few moments. "Hi, I saw your guest appearance on Project Runway. Tres chic," she comments before heading to Steve's fridge to grab herself a Coke Throwback. "I'm a...distant relative of Steve's old partner," she explains, making her way over to Steve's fridge to pull out one of the Coca-Cola Throwbacks she bought to make Steve feel more at home. "Kinda fell on hard times, so Steve offered to let me live here. Because he's basically pretty dang swell." "Well, I try." Steve smiles, moving towards the refrigerator himself, "Janet, can I get you something to drink? I can brew some coffee or tea if you like. Or we have fruit juice, milk, or cola." He glances at the fridge and smiles a little sheepishly, "Definitely going to need to do some grocery shopping. We have some sandwich fixings if you're hungry. Or as Rikki has informed me, apparently it's not at all uncommon to get food delivered." A rather novel concept to Steve, really. "You saw that? It was horrible. Honestly, I prefered doing Top Model instead. Still, sales of that particular outfit went up thirty percent..." Janet shakes her head, pushing herself out of business mode. "I can't stay too long, Steve. I need to get to the office and make sure we're still on track for our teen line." She pauses, considering Rikki, "Say... you wouldn't happen to model, would you? You're not too thin, too preened, or too blonde... in other words, you look like a real girl. I could use a few models like you." "Really, you can have just about anything delivered," Rikki says to Steve, with a slight mischievous smile. She has really enjoyed sharing the 21st century with Captain America. Introducing him to Lady Gaga and Dazzler was especially fun, if a bit cruel. She shakes her head a bit then looks to Janet, raising her brows a bit. "Modeling?" she says, seeming to not understand the question for a few seconds. "Er, no, not a model. Mostly just your every day all-American girl." She starts to fiddle with her hair, a bit self-consciously. "You don't really think I could do something like that...do you?" "I think "every day all-American girl" is the point, Rikki." Steve notes with a bemused smile, procuring one of those Coca-Cola throwbacks and cracking it open, taking a sip and considering, before nodding, "Yes, that's definitely much better than the other type. Still not quite the same...but better." He sets the bottle aside for a moment and looks to Rikki, "You could always give it a try and see if it works out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?" "I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could do it." Janet says, quite seriously. "I'm branching into teen fashions and I want to send a very clear message that girls don't have to starve themselves, vomit themselves into comas, or brainwash away their intelligence just to be attractive." "I..." Rikki says, clearly still unsure about all this. She glances towards Steve, he-of-the-American-proverbs. She twists her lips thoughtfully before giving Janet a wide smile. "Alright, I guess I'll try it at least," she finally says. "Heck, sure beats cleaning up the fryers at TacoTaco." Aside to Steve. "Who ALSO deliver." "I think it'll be safe to start telling your employers that you're moving on to better opportunities." Steve notes to Rikki, smiling warmly, "I did some dishwashing myself when I was young, and I think it was only slightly less horrifying than getting shelled by the Wermacht in the Ardennes." He notes, "And I think we'll save TacoTaco for another day. I'd imagine you're probably a little sick of them." Steve looks to Janet and smiles once more, "Thanks again, Janet. If nothing else, I can rest assured that I won't be dressing as out-of-touch as I sometimes feel." "Make sure he hangs his clothes up and doesn't stuff them in a drawer, alright?" Janet says to Rikki, "I'll have my people draw up contracts and send them over to you later this week." She walks over and kisses Steve on the cheek, "And I'll have my personal shopper locate that poster and send it along as well. I should get going. Call me if you need anything. Got it?" Rikki shakes her head towards Steve with a grin. "Naw, I've had my fill of deep-dried chimichangas for a couple life times," she admits, before adding, "Besides, I'm a model now. Have to watch all that fatty food." She nods towards Janet, giving a short snappy salute. Force of habit. "Can-do, ma'am. He might be the LG, but I'm the mom." She raises a brow slightly at that kiss, but keeps herself silent with the sip of her Coke. Steve's cheeks do redden ever-so-slightly at the peck, though he certainly doesn't avoid it, and certainly walks Janet all of those five or six steps towards the door, "I certainly will. Have a great evening, Janet. I'll no doubt see you again soon." At the mansion, if nothing else. Once Janet departs, he looks back to Rikki, smiling, though it turns a bit quizzical and he can't help but ask, "What's that look for?" Rikki just lifts a brow. "Oh nothing, you two just seem pretty close," she says slowly. "Which, I suppose wouldn't be weird, if not for the fact that you've been awake for, what now, three weeks? And the rest of the world who's not me hasn't known you were around since, what? Saturday?" She shakes her head, then cracks a smile. "Just...amused more than anything. Seems you're getting adjusted to the new century just fine." "Well, Janet's a very outgoing person, clearly." Steve notes, smiling a bit ruefully, "We did seem to hit it off fairly well, I suppose. But she's also a member of the League." He moves back to reclaim that coke bottle and take another sip, before adding, "So what kinds of food do you like, normally? I'm not exactly a gourmet chef but I can fend for myself when I need to. We should probably do some stocking up." Is Steve trying to change the subject? He just might be. Thankfully, Rikki isn't going to press the issue, just grin knowingly and getting the final word, by musing "Dunno what your rule about dating co-workers is...or at least THIS you." She purses her lips thoughtfully at the question of what to have for dinner. "Hmmm, Japanese sounds good...specifically sushi. Think I saw a place nearby on my way over here." "Japanese?" Steve notes with a curious expression (and does indeed let Rikki have the last word on the other matter for now), "I...don't think I've actually had Japanese food before." His knowledge of Japan was generally limited to their language and tactical/strategic information, and his brief forays into their territory weren't exactly for the purpose of sampling the local cuisine. "Let's give it a try, then." Hey, he's all for trying new things. Rikki blinks a few times a few times, before slowly realizing. "Oh yeah...I guess you wouldn't..." she says slowly before hopping to her feet, pulling out a menu from her back pocket. Dialing in the number. "Hi, yeah I'd like to place an order for delivery?" She gives the address, before going into her order. "Yes, I'd like an order of Binnaga and Unagi rolls. Annnnnnd some spring rolls, and please include some extra Wasabi. Cash. Okay, great, see you then." She hangs up and grins towards Steve. "Ten minutes," she says, sounding just a little bit mischivious. Well, Steve's no doubt going to be in for a bit of a surprise when he learns exactly what Sushi is. Not that it'll keep him from trying it, and probably even liking it. So long as Rikki doesn't play any cruel jokes with that extra wasabi. In any case, it seems that Rikki's first night in her new home will be mostly uneventful, and hopefully pleasant. Category:Logs